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No I'm not in school. Just a self-latin learner. I took latin 20 years ago and I am now getting back to it. Better late than never, right? Anyway, this forum is a great place to find information regardless on how small it may seem. I found stuff here that has already helped me out a great deal.

Plus...this is my 1st post.

My problem (or confusion) is this: Today, a young man asked me how to say "I hate school" in latin. Thinking it ought to be easy, I found a few confusing ways to say this. What I translated was: scholae odeo then "scholae odi" In my dictionary it states that odi is a present force or feeling (emotion). However, I cannot find the Singular "I hate". Is it Odeo in the First Singular? As for school "scholae" I see it as a feminine noun in the genitive as it seems that school is the object and "hate" is the subject. Is that even close? Sorry if this seems trivial, but it stumped me.

Welcome to Textkit! This is a great forum indeed for self-learners and students alike. There's a lot of stuff to download, but the best part is the forum with lots of support and mutual encouragement

As to hating school, you have the right words The verb you need is odi (first singular). It is, however, in the perfect tense - it has no present! Which is the reason why you can't find *odio in the dictionary. The word odi means: I have found hatred. This has the present force of emotion, thus: I hate.

I realize this may be a bit complicated for a beginner, so you may want to use another word for hate, e.g. abhorreo.

You are correct that school is the direct object of the verb. But direct objects must be in the accusative in Latin: the accusative of schola is scholam.

I believe (though I may be wrong - philology is a complicated business) that odi, being a perfect form with present force, is a relic of the Protoindoeuropean (mother language) "Perfect" tense which always had a perfect formation but "present" sense.

(Strictly, PIE Perfect was "stative" - a "tenseless" form, refering to a general state.)

Of course! I was right the first time concerning the accusative form, but didn't believe it. Scholam ends in "a" so an accusative singular would put a "m" on the end. If I have it right "I hate schools" would be "odi scholas" in the Singular plural. I think that's right. Thank you very much for the help. Need to study more on the verbs I guess.